Probably 3/4 games I play, someone drops from the game within 5-20 seconds of the game starting. Why does this happen?

I understand that connectivity issues and client crashes probably account for those vanishing during load. I am referring to those players that seemingly choose to leave right after a game has started.

Is it some kind of joke? Do people quit and play a new game if they aren't happy with their map position? Or, is there a techincal reason?

It seems kind of short-sighted to just drop based on "poor map position" when the ladder will mark that as a loss like any other. I guess if you're in a lower league where the people might not care it may be more frequent.
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Nick TApr 23 '11 at 16:07

2

I should also note that I don't generally play ladder games... just custom maps.
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BradApr 23 '11 at 19:18

4 Answers
4

In custom games, people often check opponent profile and if his profile is pretty low (comparatively to their own) they just exit from game (they think it won't be interesting to play for them and they aren't penalized for that). Usually those are players of diamond/master leagues. And if you are 2-3 leagues below...

I could suggest to play some ladder games and be promoted into gold/platinum leagues (guess you have either lower league profile or not qualified at all)... In other way your opponents won't play with you... Or you will need to play with your friends only...

Interesting. I played ladder games when SC2 came out and used to be in the Gold leagues for some game modes, and silver for others. Although I haven't played a ladder game in probably 6 months... I read something about a new season, so I assume that means my league ranking is long gone. Thanks for the info!
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BradApr 24 '11 at 1:48

You need to qualify in new season (play at least one game). Also, in my experience, there are not too much of gold players.. I would say: 15% - plat, 70% - diamonds, 15% - masters.
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BuddaApr 27 '11 at 16:57

From a technical standpoint, you pretty much answered your question in regards to the connectivity issues.

When the client is loading the map, it is a fairly computer intensive process (for those that do not have a computer that is on the higher end of the requirements for the game). During this process the client computer devotes a lot of resources to loading the game, while that occurs the client possibly times out from their connection with battle.net.

Also, from a network standpoint. The client may have gotten past the acknowledgement phase to battle.net and the game starts between the two players. However the dropping player may still be loading, and thus ends up timing out to battle.net. Which will appear to you like they dropped after the game starts.

(PS. A good way to avoid these yourself is to drop your graphic settings as these are the most computer intensive requirements for the game).

I too encountered players who immediately left the game right after the start. I once asked one why he did that, and he told me it is to farm losses. This player was probably ranked diamond or higher and wanted to get some of the quick-match achievements (eg. win 1000 games with race X) easily. Therefore he made his way down to bronze (by losing games as described above) to get some easy wins there...

This thread is obviously old as a MFER. But just for clarity to anyone picking this up in a google search as i did the answer to the question has nothing to do with connectivity or a players interest in the game. It is almost entirely an issue called 'Smurfing' in which a high ranking player intentionally loses games in order to demote himself into Bronze for easy wins. Either to boost his/her ego, or to farm portraits/achievements. Euro players have also been known to do this on American servers just to be annoying. This is a shameful and immature behavior and is a bannable offense. Be sure to report anyone who does this.